This invention relates generally to ingot pusher furnaces and more particularly, it relates to an improved ingot pusher furnace of the vertical air flow type which includes means for preventing the short circuiting of heated gases around the ends of an ingot to be heated so as to produce a more uniform heat transfer along the length of the ingot.
It is generally known in the art that ingot pusher furnaces have been designed to accommodate very large aluminum ingots to be heated. Currently, these aluminum ingots are in the range of ten to thirty feet in length, three to six feet wide and ten to thirty inches thick. Some of these prior art furnaces have fixed side baffles disposed adjacent the ends of the ingot whose length is at the maximum acceptable by the furnace. However, such furnaces are also often used to heat ingots with a shorter length. During the heating of the shorter length ingots in these furnaces, a substantial amount of the heating medium is short circuited between the fixed side baffles and the ends of the ingot to be heated. This is due to the fact that the path of least resistance for the gas flow is around the ends of the ingot. As a result, the end portions of the ingot are often overheated and generally have a much higher temperature than the center portions thereof, thereby causing non-uniform heating of the aluminum ingots.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved ingot pusher furnace of the vertical air flow type which includes means for preventing the short circuiting of heated gases around the ends of the ingot to be heated. This is accomplished in the present invention by the provision of either air distribution baffles or movable side baffles.